Kryptonian

Kryptonians are an humanoidalien race originating from the destroyed planet Krypton. When Kryptonians became the dominant species on their planet, they were initially a race of fierce and savage warriors.[1] Eventually, after many centuries, they became more peaceful as their technology became more advanced, and they became a race of science, having a Ruling Council[2] to decide matters on a democratic level instead of an army.[3]

Episodes of Smallville also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to refer to something created by or associated with the planet itself or the culture that existed on it.

Contents

Powers & Abilities

Solar battery: When a Kryptonian is exposed to the rays of a yellow sun, the cells of his body store solar energy as a battery, enabling him to develop skills beyond description. Without the sun, Kryptonians would not have superhuman abilities. A depowered Kryptonian can regenerate his/her abilities if he/she get close to the Sun. These abilities seem to be relatively easy to master, or at least most of them, as some do take time and great effort (such as heat vision or arctic breath). Most Kryptonians that have made it to Earth were aware of these powers and even for those who were not aware, such as Jor-El, who quickly adapted to his powers when he was forced to use them to save Louise McCallum from Lachlan Luthor, and Dax-Ur, who later learned of his abilities, saying: "It is Sunshine State had that effect on me." The more solar energy a Kryptonian absorbs, the more powerful he becomes.

Super strength: Kryptonians have virtually limitless physical strength, especially in direct sunlight. In terms of what they can do, they can easily overpower and kill humans and most galactic beings; bend and break reinforced steel; crush wood panels; lift heavy objects; decimate large structures; and level whole cities. Kryptonian strength increases with age, meaning the older a Kryptonian grows, the stronger he or she becomes.

Super speed: Kryptonians have the potential to travel at the speed of light, but more commonly just above the sound barrier. That said, a Kryptonian can run faster than a human or machine, and also move so fast that he seems to appear and disappear at will. When a Kryptonian super-speeds, they perceive the world in slow motion. This also gives them very fast reflexes.

Super stamina: Kryptonian possess virtually unlimited endurance in all physical activities due to receiving better nourishment from the solar energy their cells process. In addition, a Kryptonian's body stores enough solar energy to negate eat, drink, breathe and even sleep for as long as they want. This is evident as Kryptonians survive in the vacuum of space, as they do not require air. That said, Kryptonians can take part in battle sequences for as long as they want, without difficulty or fatigue (unless they exhaust their reserves of solar energy or are exposed to kryptonite).

Super hearing: Kryptonians can eavesdrop on important conversations and cries for help from miles away, and possess enough control to exclude ambient sounds in order to focus on a specific source or frequency. They also possess a mental telepathy associated with the sound, as they can hear the screams from space (where there is no air for sound waves to travel through).

Super breath: Kryptonians are able to create strong pulses of air and hurricanes by simply exhaling air from their mouths.

Super dexterity: Kryptonians are extremely agile and precise in all forms of strenuous movement. A Kryptonian can throw a football in a basketball standing back to the frame.

Arctic breath: Kryptonians can freeze objects and people with their breath.

Super agility: Kryptonians have perfect balance, which gives them a better degree of flexibility and range of motion.

Invulnerability: A Kryptonian's cells emit an aura of virtually unbreakable solar energy that results in them almost being invulnerable to bodily injuries. Because of this, Kryptonians are resistant to nearly all forms of physical damage. They can withstand the highest and lowest temperatures without sustaining any damage. As such, not even the strongest of humans can hurt them; bullets bounce off them, rockets, bombs and lasers don't even leave a mark on them, and high-voltage energy emissions (beams) cannot penetrate through them. Kryptonians are immune to all earthly diseases and viruses. They can however be damaged by other Kryptonians or foreigners who can match their strength (such as Doomsday), magic (which completely by passes said aura and directly affects their physiology) and kryptonite.

Longevity: A Kryptonian's constant absorption of solar energy delays cell deterioration; as such, provided they are under a yellow sun (unless exposed to blue kryptonite to remove this capability), Kryptonians are functionally immortal. The older they are, the more powerful they become.

Healing factor: Krptonians can heal and regenerate instantly from any wound, as long as they are not exposed to gold, blue or green kryptonite.

Flight: Kryptonians can defy gravity through telekinesis or gravitional manipulation and can reach speeds approaching the velocities of light. They can maneuver with precision in any direction, as well as hover. They must be mentally trained to handle this capability. Through this power they can fly over the skies, hover on air and carry people or objects.

Super-Intelligence: All Kryptonians possess a genius-level intellect; under a yellow sun, this power is amplified hundreds of times beyond those of human beings. Their brains work similar, or superior, to high computers; they are able to make immensely fast calculations and multitasking at alarming rates. Kryptonians, while in super-speed mode, can see everything at a virtual standstill; because their perception is greatly enhanced, they could crash into every building or object they come in contact with.

Super-Memory: Kryptonians possess an eidetic memory; under a yellow sun, this ability is amplified hundreds of times beyond those humans beings. They can receive or process large amounts of information and data at once, reading words and pictures at a fast pace. They do have a photographic memory with total recall, possess the ability to super-read in seconds and can retain large amounts of information flawlessly.

Multilingualism: Full-blown Kryptonians gain the ability to learn, speak and understand any language they come in contact with.

Electromagnetic Spectrum Perception: Kryptonians can see most of the EM spectrum. They can see and identify radio and television, as well as all other transmissions or transmitted frequencies. With this ability, they can avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods. This also allows him to see the auras generated by living beings.

Heat vision: Kryptonians are able to generate beams of intensified heat from both eyes. Their heat vision is strong enough to melt steel titanium and other metals. Heat vision also generates concussive force which can repel opponents away from them and hurt their opponents. It is activated by thoughts of sex; however, a Kryptonian can learn to focus this energy and project heat in any direction, as well as control the size of the beams and change their intensity.

X-ray vision: Kryptonians can mentally break down the polymers in objects and organisms, allowing them to see through the object or a person; as such, Kryptonians can see through anything except lead.

Telescopic vision: Kryptonians have the ability to see people or objects meters away (this power does not break the laws of physics; that is, they cannot see something that happens far away as it happens). This ability operates independently of normal vision and can be activated or deactivated by an act of will.

Super vision: Kryptonians have the ability to see extremely small residues, stains or streaks or other objects that humans cannot see with their own eyes. This ability can go so far as to see very small objects and images down to the atomic level.

Precognition: Clark was able to have the limits of the future, once exposed to a human psychic.

Telekinesis: Kryptonian have the ability to move objects with the mind, as evidenced by the fact that they can telekinetically link with Kryptonian technology. For example, Zod was able to influence the movement of the Kryptonian black box with his mind.

Technopathy: Kryptonians have the ability to connect with their native technology.

Vulnerabilities

Kryptonians are classified as high-tier cosmic beings [citation needed], and are virtually indestructible under a yellow sun. However, super-powered Kryptonians are extremely vulnerable to kryptonite, highly radioactive fragments of their homeworld, and there are many different types, all having very different effects. Green kryptonite weakens Kryptonians greatly both physically and mentally, to the point where too much exposure can kill them. Blue kryptonite strips Kryptonians of their abilities. Red kryptonite removes a Kryptonian's inhibitions and judgment.

Kryptonians are rendered completely powerless under sunlight given off by a red sun, a prime example being Krypton's red sun Rao, although this star no longer exists.

The artificial entity Jor-El has proven capable of removing and restoring inherent Kryptonian powers and abilities.

Kryptonians can also be harmed by other aliens that are of the same or higher power. Doomsday was genetically engineered by Zod and Faora to hate the House of El, making him an almost unstoppable foe to Kryptonians of that house, as his inner rage towards them drove him to want to destroy them; as such, Doomsday can easily overpower and kill Kryptonians. Phantoms inhabiting the bodies of living corporeal beings can bring harm to Kryptonians, as can Zoners. Bizarro, after replicating Clark's DNA, gained Kryptonian powers; with them, he could match Clark. Aldar was able to easily overpower Clark and could have killed him. Brainiac can also hurt Kryptonians, but he isn't as strong. John Jones was able to catch a punch from Clark that Clark intended for Lionel, a human, meaning that not much force was put behind it.

Kryptonians are also vulnerable to alien weapons. The Persuader's Atomic Axe can bypass a Kryptonian's invulnerability, causing a severe wound which also hinders their ability to heal instantly, although Clark healed two minutes afterwards.[4] The crystals in the Fortress of Solitude can bypass and pierce through their invulnerability, and can possibly kill them, as seen when Zor-El tried to kill Kara with them. A Kryptonian dagger can also hurt and kill a Kryptonian, but they can be broken easily.[5]

Kryptonians can be harmed by the effects of magic.[6] Because Kryptonians can be influenced by magic and other such abilities, they are vulnerable to Apokoliptian symbols, as shown with Kara was trapped inside a protective barrier.[7]

Some of the more powerful metahumans can harm Kryptonians with their abilities, but most other low-tier meteor freaks cannot.

Human technology embedded with or powered by kryptonite can affect Kryptonians to a degree.[8]

The Starro device made by Winslow Schott can control the mind of a Kryptonian, as evidenced with Lois Lane when she had Clark's powers, but was still affected by the device.[9]

Kryptonians are vulnerable to some mental and cognitive control. Dr. Hudson was able to invade Clark's mind.[10] Brainiac turned an ordinary rock into silver kryptonite, which was able to cause fear and paranoia in Clark.[11] Clark proved vulnerable to test-tube implants (mostly likely laced with green kryptonite) which sent his brain into a virtual realm where he had no powers. But, with the help of Lois, he managed to fly and escape the simulation.[12]

Language

The Kryptonian alphabet.

The Kryptonian language is an alien language filled with hieroglyphics and shapes that can be read by its people. The Kryptonian language is referred to as "Kryptonian."[citation needed] Written Kryptonian is made up of two separate writing systems: An alphabet and a logographic writing system.

The Kryptonian alphabet is a transliteration of the Roman alphabet. Like the Roman alphabet, it has 26 letters; it also has 10 numbers, corresponding to the ten Arabic numerals. Each Kryptonian letter corresponds to a Roman letter, and every Kryptonian number corresponds to an Arabic numeral.

The Kryptonian symbol for "hope" burned into the Kents' barn.

Kryptonian logograms often combine letters in the Kryptonian alphabet into a single character. For example, Clark burned the Kryptonian logogram for "hope" into the side of the Kents' barn. The logogram is made up the four Kryptonian letters corresponding to the English letters H-O-P-E, re-arranged into a single glyph.

The Kryptonian spoken language is rarely spoken on-camera. Even when two Kryptonians speak, they are shown speaking English. For example, in Memoria, when Clark is shown as a baby remembering his birth parents, they are speaking English, and during a flashback in Blue, Lara-El, Kara and Zor-El are also shown speaking English. (It is unclear if they are actually speaking English, or if they are speaking Kryptonian but it is rendered as English as a convenience to viewers.) An alternate explanation is that English and Kryptonian are somehow related languages.

Clark learned Kryptonian by having the information downloaded into him, and Kara mentions that she "studied" the English language on Krypton, becoming a fluent speaker with command even over idiomatic expressions. It is possible that Kryptonian technology can download a language into someone's brain, turning all interested Kryptonians into native speakers of the English language.

The Kryptonian language has only been spoken one time in the entire series, when Casey Brock was babbling incoherently in what Bizarro identified as Kryptonian hex codes.

Survivors

Virtually all Kryptonians perished when Krypton was destroyed due to the war with Zod. However, there are a few survivors who escaped the planet's destruction, by either being in a spaceship, in the Phantom Zone or on Earth.

In a spaceship

Kal-El: Survived because his parents sent him to Earth in a spacecraft. After learning of his true origins, Clark Kent assumed that he was the last son of Krypton.

Jor-El as an artificial entity: The brainwaves of Kal-El's father traveled to Earth stored in his son's spaceship.

Doomsday as genetic matter: Doomsday was created by Zod and Faora, and attached to Kal-El's spaceship as genetic matter which grew on the three-year journey to Earth and formed a camouflage persona named Davis Bloome.

Brainiac: Survived when he was put into the Black Ship; now re-programmed as Brainiac 5.

In the Phantom Zone

Zod: Survived by being sent to the Phantom Zone, but no longer had a corporeal body. Zod possessedLex Luthor on Earth in 2006, but was stopped by Clark using the Crystal of El.

Raya: Survived by living in the Phantom Zone, but was killed years afterward by Baern after Clark released her.

Faora: Was sent to the Phantom Zone along with her husband Zod. She escaped and possessed Lois Lane, but was stopped by Kara using the red crystal.

On Earth

Dax-Ur: Survived Krypton's destruction due to living on Earth as a human for 100 years until he was presumably killed by Brainiac.

Clone Technology

Lara-El: While Kal-El's mother did not survive Krypton's explosion, Zor-El had taken her DNA and put it in a blue crystal, which he sent with Kara to Earth.

Zor-El: Zor-El's DNA was also inside the blue crystal. His consciousness and physical form was replicated and took over the Fortress of Solitude, also using blue kryptonite to render his nephew Kal-El powerless.

Technology

In their distant past, Kryptonians were primitive beings using swords and daggers, fighting amongst each other as brutal but honorable warriors. Kara alluded that modern elevators on Earth were ancient technology on Krypton. Major Zod, after he was resurrected on Earth by the Orb, was seen bearing a sword inscribed with Kryptonian glyphs.[13]

Over the centuries, Kryptonians became more advanced beings and started to use technology that was far more complex than that of most other worlds, including Earth. Each Kryptonian was known to have carried a shield pendant that emitted a particular beacon which was tuned in accordance to that of their family house. Kryptonians could also store vast amounts of data and information in objects. They could somehow strip corporeal beings of their physical bodies; in this regard, Jor-El, with the help of John Jones, stripped many criminals of their bodies and cast them into the Phantom Zone.

Kryptonians could somehow embed or store Kryptonian powers and abilities inside objects. Palak was a mythical dagger that was embedded with abilities similar to those of Kryptonians to protect it until it could be delivered to the true Naman. The Kryptonian black box was Brainiac's hard drive and it also contained Kryptonian abilities, but only he could access them.

Kryptonian devices, artifacts and sacred areas

No matter what type of device or artifact, if it's Kryptonian, it can't be broken, or even scratched, by anything earthly.

Brain InterActive Construct, or Brainiac: Krypton's supercomputer that was designed by Dax-Ur and later made by Jor-El. It was later corrupted by Zod. Brainiac survived Krypton's destruction by uploading itself into the Black Ship.

Phantom Zone: A plane of existence created by Jor-El as a prison for extraterrestrial criminals from the 28 known galaxies.

Phantom Zone bracelet: Metallic bracelet that can form into a vortex to the Phantom Zone and suck their victims inside.

Stones of Power: Kryptonian stones that are each encoded with the teachings of the 28 known galaxies. They must be united to form the Crystal of Knowledge.

Crystal of Knowledge: Diamond-shaped crystal that is formed when the Stones of Power are united. Holds all the knowledge of the universe and can create the Fortress of Solitude.

Fortress of Solitude: Vast Kryptonian structure that holds the artificial intelligence of Jor-El. A storehouse for all the knowledge of the universe as well, the Fortress uses native Kryptonian technology to achieve feats of immense power.

Blue crystal: Contains Lara-El and Zor-El's DNA, memories, and clothing. Capable of shutting Jor-El's essence out of the Fortress.

Crystal of El: Kryptonian crystal displaying the Mark of El. This crystal has the ability to wipe out memories, fend off phantoms by emitting a burst of light, and remove phantoms that have possessed humans.

Orb: A device created by Jor-El and designed to control Kal-El and resurrect the Kandorian army as clones.

Book of Rao: Created by Jor-El, this octagonal device was designed to send the Kandorians to a New Krypton; by doing so, this fulfills Rao's prophecy. This device looks similar to the other octagonal key that came from Kal-El's ship.

Mirror box: Kryptonian device that allows Kryptonians, as well as humans, to travel to parallel universes.

In the Comics

In the comics, Superman/Clark Kent has displayed some other Kryptonian powers that were not displayed on Smallville; super smell, and on one occasion he displayed super scream. Superman, in other versions, has displayed some form of telekinesis.

In the comics, the Kryptonian language and characters are quite different. For example, the symbol for "hope" is Superman's logo rather than the symbol that appeared in Rosetta. Incidentally, the reverse of Superman's logo means 'resurrection'.[citation needed]